Carr won’t abandon Ruggs after horrendous car crash
Beckham, Browns appear headed on divergent paths
HENDERSON, Nev. — Derek Carr said Henry Ruggs III needs to be loved right now and needs to know he has people in his corner.
“And if no one else will do it, I’ll do it,” the Las Vegas quarterback said Wednesday.
Raiders interim coach Rich Bisaccia said it’s important to keep the focus on the fact 23-year-old Tina O. Tintor was killed Tuesday morning in a fiery crash involving Ruggs, the 22-year-old receiver who was cut by the team Tuesday night.
“We want to express our sincere condolences to the victim’s family,” Bisaccia said from a prepared statement. “We’re deeply saddened for everyone affected. Especially the victim’s family.”
Prosecutors said Ruggs was driving at 156 mph with a blood-alcohol content twice Nevada’s legal limit before his Chevrolet Corvette slammed into the rear of Tintor’s vehicle that burned, killing her. Ruggs faces felony charges of driving under the influence of alcohol resulting in death and reckless driving.
The Raiders didn’t wait for courts to act and announced Ruggs’ release in a onesentence statement Tuesday night.
“My emotions have been on a roller coaster so to speak this year,” Carr said. “My heart goes out so much. I’ll try to say it with a straight face because I’ve already been emotional about every bit of this. But to the family, to all the families involved, no one ever wants to see this, whether it’s a football player or not, you never want to see something like this happen. It broke my wife and I’s heart, honestly.”
BROWNS: Odell Beckham Jr. remains lined up outside — way outside.
The polarizing wide receiver was excused from practice for the second straight day on Thursday as the Cleveland Browns figure out their next move with him, a person familiar with the situation told The Associated Press on Thursday.
The team hasn’t reached a conclusion yet on what to do with Beckham, according to the person who spoke to the AP on condition of anonymity because of the sensitivity of the situation.
Beckham turns 29 on Friday. He’s making $15.75 million this season, and the Browns would have to pay him more than half of that if he was waived and not claimed by another team.
PACKERS: Green Bay added a backup quarterback Thursday with reigning MVP Aaron Rodgers on the reserve/COVID-19 list and questions swirling over how the team handled the NFL’s COVID protocols.
With Rodgers out at least Sunday against the Kansas City Chiefs, the Packers signed veteran Blake Bortles to the practice squad. Jordan Love, the 2020 first-round pick, will make his first NFL start. and Bortles will be added to the game-day roster to serve as the backup.
While the Packers are focused on extending their winning streak to eight games, the larger issue revolves around how the team and Rodgers handled the league’s COVID protocols. In a statement Wednesday, NFL spokesman Brian McCarthy said the league “is aware of the current situation in Green Bay and will be reviewing the Packers.”
GIANTS: The New York Giants limited access to their facility after the laboratory handling their COVID-19 testing had an unusually high number of false positive tests.
The Giants said several more players and coaches had false positives on Thursday, forcing the team to cancel in-facility morning meetings for players and to close their office to non-football staff.